High and low fantasy are distinguished as being set, respectively, in an alternative "secondary" world or in the real "primary" world. In many works, the distinction between primary or secondary world settings, and therefore whether it is low or high fantasy, can be unclear. The secondary world may take three forms, described by Nikki Gamble in her explication of three characteristics of
high fantasy: • Primary does not exist (e.g.,
Dungeons & Dragons) or is irrelevant (e.g.,
Discworld) • Entered through a portal from the primary world (e.g., ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials, and The Dark Tower'') • World-within-a-world (e.g.,
American Gods,
The Gods of Pegāna,
The Magicians, and
Harry Potter) A few high fantasy series do not easily fit into Gamble's categories. For example,
J. R. R. Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings is set in the primary world of Earth in the ancient past, and Tolkien adamantly disagreed with anyone who thought otherwise. According to Tolkien, he had set it in the inhabited lands of geographically north-west Europe. Tolkien himself disagreed with the notion that his stories diverged from reality, but rather defended his position that the "essentials of that abiding place are all there (at any rate for inhabitants of N.W. Europe), so naturally it feels familiar, even if a little glorified by enchantment of distance in time." Nevertheless,
Middle-earth is sufficiently divergent from reality to be classed as a secondary world and hence high fantasy. it is physically separated from the real world and becomes a "world-within-a-world". Similarly,
Philip Pullman's
His Dark Materials is largely set in an alternate
Oxfordshire, a real location, but the fact that it is an alternate world at all places it in the
high fantasy subgenre. Low fantasy is related to a number of other genres or subgenres. •
Urban fantasy takes place in a modern urban as opposed to rural or historical setting, and thus can be viewed as a type of low fantasy. •
Dark fantasy uses fantasy to create a sense of horror or dread. Since it often has a real-world setting, there is an overlap with low fantasy. •
Paranormal romance, of which the best-known variety is the vampire romance, is nearly always low fantasy. •
Superhero fiction may count as low fantasy if the hero's powers have a supernatural rather than a scientific (or pseudoscientific) explanation. •
Magical realism has a largely realistic view of the world but introduces supernatural elements. While authors such as
Gene Wolfe and
Terry Pratchett regard it as fantasy, it has been claimed as a different genre on the grounds that in magical realism the supernatural events are usually included in the worldview of the human characters while in low fantasy they usually violate it. ==Role-playing games==